Daily Archives: May 29, 2014

Dogs

Litter Mates

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Beltane                                                           New (Summer Moon)

Took the dogs in for their annual physical. This process has some elements of farce. Our dogs, who never leave the property, are not leash trained. We put them on leashes to take them to the vet. The two big girls, Vega and Rigel, pull like sled dogs only with three times IMAG1193the weight. Then, in the examining room, we sit, Kate, Gertie, Vega, Rigel and me. The dogs pant and stir around anxiously, going from here to there, coming to our knees for reassurance one minute, then exploring, excited, the next.

(Rigel)

Vega and Rigel are litter mates, sisters, and have never been apart. Since birth. When Rigel left for her exam, Vega was upset but stolid. When Vega left for her exam, Rigel gave a pitiful cry, several times, lay on the floor with her head in a dejected posture, ears flopped down. She kept this up for a couple of minutes, then wandered around a bit, later slumping to the floor again. Quiet this time. When Vega returned, Rigel didn’t jump and clap her paws together, she walked over and stood beside Vega for a moment, then returned to her usual way. Life’s balance had returned and that was enough. Could be a lesson here for us humans.

Roger Barr, our vet, had pictures of dogs he calls cold bloods, which, he said are the same IMAG1194as stag hounds. You may remember our interest in stag hounds from our recent Denver trip. Roger’s pictures come from a breeder in Abilene, Kansas, where Eisenhower’s library is and more important, across the road from the library is the National Greyhound Hall of Fame. I’ve been there and met Queenie, the Greyhound ambassador of the day, a former racer. Roger says they usually have dogs as ambassadors who were well known champions in dog racing. The cold bloods are beautiful, rangy animals with a look somewhere between a Scottish Deerhound and a Greyhound.

(Vega)

Roger says the breeder has a truck with boxes on the back and a pull bar in the cab. They drive over canyons and in difficult terrain hunting for coyote. When the dogs, with their superior eye sight (these are sight hounds) spot prey, the pull bar goes down, the dogs spring out IMAG1304and give chase. They have a speed dog to run the coyote down and a kill dog to finish the hunt though I imagine they hunt in threes or fours as most sight hounds do.

(Vega and Rigel)

Next year in Colorado. Maybe we’ll be hunting coyotes, driving over difficult terrain and howling at the moon.

Garden, Great Work

And, They’re Off

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Beltane                                                                   New (Summer) Moon

The heat has returned. As has our irrigation. That combination plus the International Ag IMAG0357Labs program seems to have gotten us off to a good start. I was afraid I’d burned the tomatoes and peppers (too much nitrogen), but they seem to be coping.

(2013 garlic)

The tomatoes, with one exception, look strong and so do the peppers. The collard greens, chard and egg plant have put on a growth spurt with that vivid color which signals good health in a plant. The onions, garlic and leeks have made good progress, too, though they’re a bit slower in general than the others. Beans and cucumbers have sprouted, except for one row which has just begin to push up, sugar snaps if I remember correctly.

The tomatillos, planted a week or so ago, have done poorly, and I don’t know why, but we’ll have to replant them. The beets and carrots, planted before we left for Denver, have sprouted, too, the carrots looking as good any I’ve had. The golden beets, beautiful on the plate, just don’t germinate well, at least the variety I’ve planted for three years. Which should be a signal to me. The bull’s blood variety grows with the kind of vigor you might associate with, well, a bull.

Kate went out today and weeded, weeded, weeded. The garden looks neat and organized. Tomorrow afternoon or Saturday morning I have to lay down mulch, seems awful close to planting, but the heat and the cold brushed against each other this year.